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An officer responding to the Royal Avenue call spotted Antonio Porporino, 65, holding what looked like a rifle in the garden of his Washington Avenue home, , Detective Sgt. Matthew Hoogmoed said.
Porporino at first told police he was “just standing in his garden,” Hoogmoed said.
When they spotted a rifle against a wall in plain view in his shed, the sergeant said, Porporino insisted he didn’t fire it.
Police found another bullet in his pocket at headquarters, Hoogmoed said.
That’s when Porporino told them he was “trying to shoot small critters that were eating the vegetables in his garden and had missed his intended target,” the sergeant said.
Police charged Porporino with criminal mischief and released him pending a court hearing.
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